Stewie Leonard III's legacy is one of water safety for all children

Updated 9:39 am, Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Stew Leonard Jr. and his wife, Kim, are shown with Stewie the Duck, the water safety character they created as a result of the drowning death of their 21-month-old son, Stewie III, in 1989.

Stew Leonard Jr. and his wife, Kim, are shown with Stewie the Duck, the water safety character they created as a result of the drowning death of their 21-month-old son, Stewie III, in 1989.

Photo: Contributed Photo

Image 2 of 2

Stewie Leonard III, the son of Kim and Stew Leonard Jr., accidentally drowned in 1989.

Stewie Leonard III, the son of Kim and Stew Leonard Jr., accidentally drowned in 1989.

Photo: Contributed Photo

Stewie Leonard III's legacy is one of water safety for all children

1 / 2

Back to Gallery

On New Year's Day 1989, Stew Leonard Jr. and his wife, Kim, their two young children and his siblings and their families were all gathered together for a celebration in St. Maarten.

He can still hear the laughing voices of young children as they clamored around the pool at their rented vacation home. He recalls how much fun his younger son, 21-month-old Stewie, was having.

"It was a great day," recalled the president and CEO of Stew Leonard's farm stores in Danbury and Norwalk

Suddenly, Leonard said, he spotted a yellow cloth floating in the pool.

"I did the sprint of my life and grabbed him, and started CPR immediately," Leonard said of the son he found face down in the water.

More Information

Stewie the Duck
"Stewie the Duck Learns to Swim" teaches children between ages 2 and 6 how to be safe around water.
A new ibook features read-to-me audio and contains interactive animation, sound effects, a memory game and a sing-a-long.
The free app Apple approved on April 4, the date of Stewie III's 25th birthday, also includes tips for parents from Stew Leonard Jr. and his wife, Kim, about how to keep children safe around water.
The Stewie the Duck app, developed by The Allen Group Inc. in Norwalk, can be downloaded via iTunes by searching for Stewie the Duck.
To learn more about water safety, swim lessons and lifeguarding courses visit the American Red Cross website at www.redcross.org.

"I remember my wife and I just held hands and starred into space We were just in shock, absolute shock," he said after being told that efforts to revive Stewie were unsuccessful.

A year later, the Leonards founded a nonprofit charity in their son's honor, the Stew Leonard III Water Safety Foundation. The mission of the organization that has raised $1 million for water safety awareness and education is to prevent other families from losing a child to drowning.

To implant their message on an intended audience of parents and children aged 2 to 6, the Leonards created a character called Stewie the Duck, a life-vest-wearing duck who must take swimming lessons and follow proper water etiquette to swim with the "big ducks." In 2002, the Leonards released their first book, "Stewie the Duck Learns to Swim," which has sold more than 100,000 copies, along with a second book, "Swimming Lessons with Stewie the Duck."

In April, the Leonards embarked on the latest Stewie the Duck venture, a mobile app of the book that can be downloaded free to iPad and iPhones.